Coupon Competition

I am by nature somewhat competitive, but it is something I war against actively in my life.  You would be surprised where this trait rears its ugly head. Thankfully, I can come online and read the blogs of so many wonderful women who surpass me in so many ways, and I am reminded to keep my eyes on what God has for me and not what He has for others. 

If it were not for the blogs of these super women, one area where I could have easily become competitive or proud is in the area of couponing.  This week my couponing organization had to morph into a medium sized tote with a handled lid. (My index card file was too full to hold my treasures.)  In the past when I went up and down the grocery aisles with my coupons, first with the notebook of baseball card pages for easy coupon view to the price book category -divided notebook and then to the index card box with coupons filed alphabetically according to brand name, no one paid any attention to me and I could shop undisturbed.  But, this week as I carried in my handled tote so neatly organized, I was stopped more than four times in 20 minutes with questions and compliments on my organizational skills and creativity.  While I find this amusing and it does bring a smile to my face, I don't find much pride in it because I know I am NOT a savings/coupon guru, nor do I believe I will ever be one.  I do not have the time, health, energy and resources to chase down every bargain as some of these women do.  I am ever indebted to these women who lay out the good deals and bargains for us and alert us to deals both good and bad.  All this is not to say that I don't want to do my best at saving money for our family; it simply means that I want to do my best, rather than someone else's best. 

“Don’t be too easily convinced that God really wants you to do all sorts of work you needn’t do. Each must do his duty ‘in that state of life to which God has called him.’ Remember that a belief in the virtues of doing for doing’s sake is characteristically feminine, characteristically American, and characteristically ...modern: so that three veils may divide you from the correct view!  

There can be intemperance in work just as in drink. What feels like zeal may be only fidgets or even the flattering of one’s self-importance. As MacDonald says, ‘In holy things may be unholy greed!’ And by doing what ‘one’s station and its duties’ does not demand, one can make oneself less fit for the duties it does demand and so commit some injustice. Just you give Mary a chance as well as Martha!”

C.S. Lewis, Letters to An American Lady